As the smoke from the explosion cleared, I saw that I was back in the room again. Was all that a dream? I had hoped so until I began to see the room again. Doll and Grexl were unconscious and were lying on the ground, Gate, Keeper, and Cross were exhausted, and there was a dismantled figure on the ground. X was there, laying defeated and missing his right arm and only having his upper body. He was absolutely destroyed.
"Cross please! Help me! Can you fix him, like you did with Doll?" I pulled X's body into my arms and pleaded to Cross to help me.
"I cannot. He is too badly damaged. Their might be something I can do, though. To keep him alive..." Cross took X from my arms and into his, not caring about the blood staining his perfectly white suit. He carried him into X's room and shut the door. I was so worried about him, and I was so afraid for everyone elses safety, but at the moment, I was much too exhausted to do anything. That's when I felt the darkness creep into me, and I fainted.
..................
"Perhaps now is the time to strike, when he is weakest..."
"Don't underestimate him, Insanity. He and his companions were able to defeat four of our strongest."
Where am I...? Who is talking? Another...Nightmare? No...he said Insanity...what's going on?
"Then should we activate the fail-safe? I can do it any time..."
"Shh...hush now. He can hear us you know."
I had to leave now, this darkness was so familiar it was unsettling. I had to go!
..................
"Master, it is time to wake up. We have good news for you." Doll shook me awake from my nightmare. What had happened? Regardless, I wanted to hear this good news. "Follow me then, Master."
Doll took me into X's room and there I saw Cross in torn black pants and his white suit layed to the side. He looked intriuged by the black pillar in front of him.
"He's stable, but not conscious." I looked towards the pillar and realized that it was not just a pillar. It was made out of black spikes, and inside was X.
"I had to give him some of our essences. A master's essence is powerful enough to save him from absolute death that no one can come back from." It was sad...I can't believe he sacrificed himself for me, and for that, he can have all of my essence.
I walked out of the room to see everything normal. Except everyone wore black, as if this was a funeral. It was truly a melancholy day, and no matter what I could still only think of what that "fail-safe" was...I must be really messed up in the head if I can't be sad on a day like this. Just then a dark, familiar voice called out to me:
"If you're so curious on to what it is, then why don't you come through this portal? Follow me, and I will give you all the answers." As he said that, a portal formed in the middle of the room. I began walking towards it, but Cross grabbed me on the shoulders.
"We heard it too, and we don't trust it. You're not going alone, and even if you were, you should take this." He pulled out a sphere of energy and pushed it into my chest. It felt so cold...But I ignored it, we needed to go through the portal.
When we got through, we arrived at a huge chessboard. We all stood in place except for Keeper who jumped into a floating chair in the middle of the board. After he ascended, I saw two people standing at the end of the board. A man in a black and red coat with a mask on, and another shadowy figure with a shining arm and glowing eye.
"We've been expecting you, Jake. Now, Insanity, activate the fail-safe!" I suddenly realized who these two were, they were Darkness and Insanity, the two that caused the dark flood! I had no time to react as Insanity snapped his fingers and I awaited another flood. But that didn't happen. Nothing did, at first. Hoowever just as it seemed safe, Doll turned to Grexl and began to attack him. Doll pinned Grexl and held a knife to his throat.
"Doll! I thought we were friends! Don't do this!" I had another revelation as I watched Doll get thrown off by Gate and him running over to the enemy's side.
"That's right Jake," Doll spoke like Insanity would, "I accepted Insanity's dark essence in me and have now become one of their's. And for the record, Grexl, I was never your friend. I was just waiting for the right time to strike." Just then, his flesh burned off and he became a dark being with pulsating lines of blue energy running around his body. Grexl tried to charge at Doll, but Cross stopped him and lifted him over his shoulder. Gate summoned a portal back to our home and Cross took Grexl through it. Just after Gate and Keeper got through, I began to look back those monsters...
"That's right Jake. Run. Run away. But we'll be here. Waiting for your surrender!"
